Tenchu: Sheding of Royal Blood
by Calfre
Summary: Rikimaru and Ayame are back at the cemetary to find Princess Kiku. Thanks to an old foe, what they do find will shock them and have them battling for their lives. Minor Tenchu 3 spoilers. Please R+R!!


Tenchu: Sheding of Royal Blood  
  
Inside a dim, narrow hallway, a bare pale-skinned creature skimmed the area. Occassionally, it bent it's nose to the dirt and sniffed, in search with beady yellow eyes of what slew it's undead cohorts. Their hewed bodies litered the floor and their thick blood, splattered all over, was sticky to the creature's feet. Unaware of what was watching it, the beast howled meekly as it stepped across more bloodsoaked bodies with it's scrawny feet. It's head bobbed back and forth from side to side as it trotted ignorantly through the long hall that was layered with wood, but laced here and there.  
  
From the darkness, Rikimaru: the Azuma Shinobi-ryu, dipped behind a neighboring corridor and faded into the shadows. He took a moment to notice his bloodstained sword: The Muramasa; it glimmered with a faint blue mist, fully shrouding the blade. After a breif hesitation, he hugged the grimy walls, slid, and carefully peeked back around the corner. A foul odor and disarrayed silhouette came to his senses as he spotted the undead creature; it moved about the hall like a puppet without strings, sniffing the still air as it went.  
  
As the creature turned, Rikimaru took haste and launched himself from the shadows, lunging his shimmering katana through it's throat. The creature's high-pitched squeal pierced the Azuma's ears as it's scrawny body clammoured to the ground; blood spewing from the wound.  
  
"The undead should stay dead." thought Rikimaru.  
  
Another scream, similar to his victim, echoed through the halls, and the ninja ducked to the ground. He grinned under his face mask.  
  
"Good girl, Ayame."  
  
Ayame clasped the handles of her two daggers: The Yoto Swords, and swiftly removed them from her undead victim's chest. They too, were surrounded in a blue mist. Glancing about, she readied the grappling hook from her belt and flung it to the end of an perfectly edged cliff, several yards above her. Ayame hung a few seconds, then pulled herself to her feet. There, she spotted Rikimaru in the darkness, kneeled beside the lifeless figure he slew. Ayame raced towards him, and leaned against the wall.  
  
"Any troubles?" asked Rikimaru. His eyes were fixed about the corridor the two were in, beside Ayame.  
  
"No." she replied.  
  
"Good. We only have a little way to go now. Princess Kiku has to be here."  
  
From their previous trips to the cemetery, both ninjas were aware of it's layout, but were always surprised to find new undead creatures here and there. They had manuevered throughout the entire maze of long corridors and creature infested areas. The path had even took a steep drop where both had fallen into a square lined hall that was filled with the blood of the dead. It wasn't deep however, and it only splashed up their ankles, but did not hinder the ninja's swift movements as they continued to travel. After much patience, climbing, and decending, Rikimaru and Ayame, both had finally found their way to the end of the grave without incident aside the ignorance of the undead warriors.  
  
Down the hall and around the last corner lead to the end of the vast grave. Moonlight peeped through racing clouds that shrouded a dark green grass-patched hill that lead upwards to their destination; a lone house; the old, weatherworn wooden shack with straw as a roof. Assuming from the slight tilt in the creaking wood, it was old. As Rikimaru and Ayame stepped to it's withered door, Ayame spoke with saddening dismay:  
  
"There's nothing here."  
  
Even as the words escaped from her mouth, the two fell silent as they heard the commotion of what seemed like an inhuman crowd. The two ninjas leaped and pulled themselves to the roof of the old shack and kneeled. Immediately, Rikimaru spotted a dark figure dash away from the crowd and into a dark hole that gave way into another graveyard.  
  
"Onikage. . ."  
  
On the ground, they spotted several creatures of the undead gathered around in a small circle; a few of the creatures were similar looking to the short bald demons that Rikimaru and Ayame slew earlier; others had long dark hair and were clad in armor, with swords and bows, but their skin was partically decomposed and were pierced with one or several arrows.  
  
"It looks like their feasting." Rikimaru observed with a sense of calmness. "If it's Kiku. . ."  
  
"Kiku!" cried Ayame as she sprang from the rooftop.  
  
"Ayame! No!" retorted Rikimaru as he reached for her with an outstretched hand.  
  
Ayame did not heed the Azuma leader's words as she dashed over to the warriors with undeniable speed and began slashing away with her shimmering daggers. Several of the monsters fell from surprise but the others became alerted and began to defend themselves with sluggish movements. Rikimaru kept his position on the roof and observed Ayame's suave attacks, but it wasn't long before she was overwhelmed by the undead swordsmen and the few clingy pale-skinned, cornering her against the old shack. Rikimaru sighed, and reluctantly drew his sword. He leaped from the roof and flipped over behind the beasts. The Muramasa immediately danced viciously across the undead, ripping a few bodies asunder and beheading a couple others. He finished off the group by dispatching them with a few swift swings of his deadly sword.  
  
Rikmaru sheath his blade as he raced over to Ayame and wrapped an arm around her waist. He clasped the rim of the roof just above him and pulled the both of them to safety. The leader immediately let her go as he scanned the ground with keen eyes for any more sign of danger. Ayame quickly dashed over beside Rikimaru to see what the commotion with the undead was about. Ayame fell to her knees in aghast with her swords grasped weakly in her palms. The sight of the young princess' lifeless body took the breath out of her, but couldn't bring herself to shed her buried tears.  
  
"Rikimaru, I - "  
  
The Azuma leader spun around quickly and delievered a fierce slap to Ayame with the back of his hand. She blinked, unable to finished her sentence from pure shock. The young girl would never think her own comrade would dicipline her in such manner. She pampered her face with her hand and winced in pain, unable to speak.  
  
"What the hell were you thinking?" scolded Rikimaru. His tone of voice was stern, but calm, as if he had not even taken notice to Lord Gohda's daughter.  
  
"The princess, " Ayame quickly replied. "I had to save her."  
  
"That is not the way of the Azuma! If it's Kiku, then we're too late! But from when you join to when you die, you will never, and I mean NEVER take a frontal assault like that again, do you hear me?" scolded Rikimaru.  
  
"Yes." Ayame answered weakly.  
  
"I can't hear you!"  
  
The young ninja looked him in the eyes, "Yes!" shouted Ayame with swelling tears. "I said YES!"  
  
Rikimaru caught a glance at his hand; his fingers, where they had met with Ayame's waist, were trickled with blood. He sighed. "Are you hurt?"  
  
Ayame found it best not to lie at the moment, she shook her head.  
  
"Let me tend to the wound. Take off your shirt."  
  
Ayame hesitated, but obeyed Rikimaru command. Her cheeks flushed a faint red as she revealed to the man, her petite figure, however no thoughts of seduction were in his mind. As he saw a large gash at her side, below her rib cage, Rikimaru produced a dark linen band from his belt and Ayame let her arms rest behind her head as be began to unravel the cloth. He wrapped it around her body several times, across her injury. Ayame winced everytime he embraced the wound.  
  
"I'm sorry." she finally said after a tense silence. She allowed her hands to rest behind her head and her thin body shook with anxiety.  
  
Rikimaru did not reply.  
  
"I know that was foolish of me, and it will never happen again."  
  
The Azuma leader tied a firm knot in the cloth above the wound and let his hands fall.  
  
"There, put your shirt back on. That will hold it until we get back to the castle."  
  
Ayame could sense the disappointment in his voice, and couldn't even bring herself to thank the shinobi-ryu for his aid. She slipped back into her shirt.  
  
"There was nothing we could do, Ayame." said Rikimaru. "This was all Onikage's doing. He somehow survived our last battle and this must have been his revenge; kidnap Princess Kiku and end her life for good."  
  
"But why?" Ayame inquired. "Shouldn't we go after him?"  
  
"No." answered Rikimaru. "He would expect that. We must be patient and wait for him to come back to us."  
  
"What makes you so sure that he would do such a thing?"  
  
Rikimaru shut his eyes and spoke lightly, "because he knows that I will hunt him down, and that I will take his life for good this time. The death of a princess is a crime beyond justice and I will not at nothing until he is dead."  
  
Ayame glanced towards the dead body several yards infront of them. The young Princess Kiku's figure had been violently lacorated; her royal clothes were soaked in her own blood, and her head nearly ripped from her body. The ground was stained with her blood, and the dark liquid of the undead. Ayame was torn, heartbroken, but couldn't bring herself to cry, especially infront of Rikimaru. She vowed to never show weakness infront of her companions, even if it ment the loss of her best friend; the one who she considered her own baby sister. Rikimaru remained the silent ninja that he was. Instead, he kept his dark, surveying eyes fixed upon the small opening in which the shadded silhouette disappeared into. A faint purple light emitted slowly from the inside.  
  
Suddenly, it seems as though the clouds ceased movement. Several lightning bolts sprouted from the gray and streaked rapidly, skipping and dancing across the skies of the Cemetery. Instantly, at least twenty bolts of lightning struck ablaze, the dark exterior of the hole in the ground, blanketing the opening with a bright light. Moments later, the glistening hole began to shape into that of a man; thin, but muscular rising from the opening. Rikimaru kneeled in awe, keeping his squinted eyes focused on the dazzling light show. The beams lightning suddenly receded back into the skies and the clouds continued to travel with the wind. As Rikimaru shifted his eyes back to the hole, he spotted him; Onikage, with his gothic facade and torso that was indugled with many strange markings and tattoos. A swirling ball of black light twisted about his right arm, and radiated with mist of vivid purple. The man's long dark hair swayed and a grin spread across his long face as he stepped away from the hole, towards Rikimaru and Ayame, atop of the many slain bodies below their feet.  
  
"Rikimaru!" he cried, his voice deep and loud, with an arrogant tone. "Welcome to your grave!"  
  
"That's about the lamest thing I've heard." whispered Ayame.  
  
The two Azuma's leaped from the structure to the ground below with their weapon drawn. Onikage grinned under his wicked teeth, but he wasn't aggressive.  
  
"It has been a while, Rikimaru. I see you have both of your eyes again!" Onikage remarked.  
  
"Why does that sound familiar?" said the Azuma.  
  
"Did you miss me!" he laughed.  
  
"How do you keep coming back?"  
  
Onikage crossed his arms, "I told you I'm like a old dog that you can't get rid of, I just keep coming back! On that note, I have brought with me, a gift, from the Limestone Caverns."  
  
The goth drew his hand out and a long beam of light swelled in his palm. He sneered and clasped tightly as the light began to take form. Rikimaru's eyes widened, but it was Ayame who spoke up.  
  
"How did your grubby hands get a hold of the Shichistito?!"  
  
"Watch your tongue, kunoichi, or else I will have it for lunch!" cried Onikage. He then turned to Rikimaru, "What's the matter? Are you puzzled at this?"  
  
Rikimaru could only stare, he thought for certain that the sword of Lord Mei-oh in the dirty hands of Onikage was nothing short of impossible. The long sword, Shichistito, lined with many twisted blades shimmered brightly in Onikage's grasp. He noticed the same glimmer when his shadow battled with the Lord himself.  
  
"How did you get that sword? The swordsmith, Ressai and I destroyed it!" Rikimaru informed.  
  
"Oh, that you did, but what you don't know is that there was another! It was hidden right behind the original!"  
  
"Another?!"  
  
"Yes, even the great Lord Mei-oh, thought that his precious blade might someday be destroyed, so he had a replica crafted; it too, with the exact same power. I found it, Rikimaru, the day I put your eye out! With this sword, Lord Mei-oh's power is mine, and now I can finally kill you. You are like a bothersome fly."  
  
Onikage circled the sword and thrust it into the air. Purple beams, obviously Onikage's chi power screamed from the sword, jolting into many bolts of energy into the air. Rikimaru and Ayame could only watch as hordes upon hordes of bald undead monsters poured from the grave, onto the ground like reptilians, and even across the boulder slabbed walls like spiders, on a rampage towards the two Azumas, and causing them to flee, keeping their eyesight on the crowd. It wasn't long before the whole area was covered with shrieking creatures, exhaling flames from their bony jaws.  
  
"What now, Rikimaru!" cried Onikage, who's voice rose over that of the screaming. "This is no escape this time!" 


End file.
